Frequency of protozoan and helminthic intestinal infections in Emergency Hospital for Children “St. Maria” Iasi, Romania

Abstract

Introduction: Intestinal parasites are an important health problem, as they affect a large number of individuals, resulting either in asymptomatic cases or in states of chronic diarrhea and malnutrition. This study had the objective of investigating the frequency of intestinal parasitic infection in children (0-16 years old) admitted in Emergency Hospital for Children “St. Mary” Iasi, Romania, as this is a pediatric tertiary care center for the Moldavia region and because there is no recent data in the literature about such investigation in this large area. Materials and methods: A retrospective study was conducted using the stool microscopy results from January to December 2011 which were obtained from archived records of the Department of Parasitology of the Hospital. Intestinal parasitic infection was diagnosed by direct fresh parasitological examination of the stools. The stool samples were processed using saline and iodine mounts and examined microscopically for ova and cysts of parasites. Results: Overall, female patients were more affected (58.23%). Among 1168 positive coproparasitological tests, 98.70% of patients had single parasitic infection, and 1.30% had more than two types of intestinal parasites. In double and triple parasitic infection (12 cases), there were associations be­tween a protozoan and a helminth (66.66%), between two helminthes (25%), or a protozoan and two helminthes (8.33%). The frequency of protozoan infection was found to be above 96%, and was represented only by Giardia lamblia, which affected almost equally male and female patients. There were 5 different species of helminthes in stool specimens (52 cases). Ascaris lumbricoides (80.76%) and Enterobius vermicularis (9.61%) were the most frequent among them and affected equally male and female patients. Hymenolepis nana (5.76%) and Trichuris trichiura (3.84%) correlated with female patients and Ancylostoma duodenalis (1.92%) affected only male patients. Conclusion: Our data revealed a different pattern of intestinal parasitic distribution comparing with those reported in industrialized or developing countries. We highlight the special need to educate the community on proper personal hygiene and basic sanitation measures to reduce health problems caused by intestinal parasites.